Knee replacements in young patients like yourself are done if there is severe destruction of the joint cartilage that is unresponsive to conservative measures like injections, antiinflammatories,etc. You have what sounds like a very difficult problem with both knee instability and nerve damage. The nerve issue might be confounding the picture. It sounds like the nerve is recovering so you may simply need more time. If your knee is giving out you need to see someone adept at doing multiligamentous reconstructions. But if your knee is stable and it is simply cartilage damage causing all of your issues, a total knee may be needed. Consult a high volume joint replacement specialist if that is the case. Nobody likes doing total knees in young guys for the reasons you stated, but if you need it you need it and you can have a revision surgery down the line if/when you wear it out. Hopefully this helps, hard to diagnose without seeing any studies.

Andrews trained me. He is hands on every one of his patients. As fellows (which are residency trained Orthopaedic surgeons) we did some portions of the procedure as his assistant. But I can assure you for the "important" parts he was right there doing it. To say he doesn't operate means you have no idea and that is actually a pretty irresponsible statement to make.

If she truly has severe arthritis, she needs either steroid injections, hyaluronic acid injections, or a knee replacement. No need to travel the world when you've got very capable and excellent ortho surgeons in Chicago (I'm an orthopaedist).

Fire the neurologist, fire the trainers!!! How could they not see it? What morons!!! Oh wait, we're not doing that anymore, just for Hoke? Oh ok. Sorry. Good job medical staff! Only Hoke should be watching the tv instead of coaching.

That info usually isn't made public, a lot of it is seen better at the time of operation anyway. The big thing to understand is that acl recovery cannot really be that well predicted. Two people can undergo the exact same procedure and one be ready to go months before the other.

Depends on if other structures are damaged. Meniscus tears are frequent with ACLs, as are cartilage injuries. Jake was a special case and I wouldn't count his recovery as the norm. Can he be back in 7 months? Yeah but to be 100% it takes a few more months and if he is sore or still weak then it is prudent to give him more time. Not Derrick Rose time but time nonetheless.

He decommitted because of a bad season? So should you commit to a school only if it had a good year? I bet a lot of kids wish they hadn't turned down auburn. Winning is unpredictable. How bout staying with a school you committed to and be one of the ones to make a great team rather than needing others before you to make the team great. Also, I'm sure all the whining bitches complaining all day on this site has no impact on the myriad of 17 year olds reading this site to stay up on their potential future teams. Keep up the work guys, you are all helping this team tremendously.

I would hate to have you and most of the posters on this site on my team. A bunch of quitters with no resolve. Down by 2 scores? I guess it's quitting time. Let's just lose before we start so we don't feel like failures. You suck.

I'm not sure if you understand how this game is typically played. Everyone likes to get on their high horse and demand that our players play with such class and boyscout honor. This is a very violent game. Most of the time, our players are trying to mame the guy across from them. It is war. It is an angry affair. Sometime emotion gets the best of you. Sometimes choking the guy you are going against or punching the guy in the throat with the ball when there is a fumble happens. With the amount of video analysis now this is getting more and more exposed. But make no mistake, the big uglies on the team are not there to play paddycake. They are out for blood. Like it or not, that is the game of football, and if you played on a competitive team, you would know that this is the norm. Sorry to burst all your sensitive bubbles. This is a game for men with anger and cock and balls. It is changing unfortunately, and it will soon be flag football and it's all going to be all your fault. Fuck me I quit America.

I have to disagree about the slightly slower speeds. The Merritt has a bunch of hills, but there is one cop assigned to it per county. You can go pretty much as fast as you want. I have lived here for most of my life, and never got pulled over on the Merritt despite a very heavy foot. It is the Hutchinson parkway in new york, then runs into the Merritt.

I usually think Heiko is a bit out of his league when he asks the coaches questions about football that show how much he still needs to learn the game, but I thoroughly enjoyed his writing here. As he learns the game more he will become a better and better asset to this site.

Super macho man code. I didn't know the Tyson one so I had to beat Super macho man first to fight Tyson. To this day I can beat Macho man without him touching me because I did it so many times while getting worked by Tyson.

They are very unlikely to be linked. Superficial staph infections should have no bearing on the ulnar nerve which is deep and relatively protected from where his issue was before.
-mgoorthopaedicsurgeon

Orthopaedic surgeon here....fix it. Rehab to get your range of motion back first. I recommend autograft, not cadaver graft. Patellar tendon is my choice but hamstrings are good too. You cannot ski without an ACL without risking repeat injury.

I am an orthopaedic surgeon, with a fellowship in sports medicine. Elbow issues with throwers can sometimes be difficult to pin down, as often the pain is vague and difficult to pinpoint. However, an MRI will usually show anything with structural damage that needs to be addressed (typically the ulnar collateral ligament, or "Tommy John Ligament" is a biggie with baseball players). Part of evaluating the elbow in a thrower should always be paying particular attention to the ulnar nerve. Tapping the nerve might cause a sense of shock going down the arm into the little and ring finger, or may cause pain at the elbow itself. To look more specifically at the nerve, EMG/NCV testing can be done. I disagree with the statements made that sports medicine docs overlook nerve issues, as anyone with any type of competence will have that high up in their differential.

Another problem that is seen occasionally with baseball players, but is rare, is called thoracic outlet syndrome. That is a compression of the nerves way up in the shoulder area that occurs in the cocking position of throwing a ball, and can cause sporadic weakness. It is a great masquerader, but that is something you have to think of too with an odd weakness/numbness story. Let me know if you have any more questions.

Seriously? This is football. This kid is soft. Coaches push, they yell, they slap you upside the helmet. If you ever played the game you most likely experienced it. It is not assault, it is the way the game is. If you don't think Hoke or Mattison grabs the players and shoves them in the middle of practice you are delusional.

You can't just make things up about concussion testing and state them as fact. A brain CT will likely show nothing in a concussed player unless they have a bleed. Also, reflexes and coordination are not an indicator of concussion. You make me angry.